Author and historian Alexander Larman was recently interviewed in an episode of the History Extra podcast, discussing his new book, The Crown in Crisis. When Edward VIII abdicated as King, Britain dodged a bullet. He had neither the character or temperament to be King. Setting aside his colourful, to put it politely, personal life, he was also selfish, with no sense of duty or service. Before his marriage to Wallis Simpson, he was an active womaniser. To make matters worse, he was also a Nazi sympathiser. After the war, he was supposed to have said to a friend in a private conversation that Hitler was "not such a bad chap."
He was hardly the type of monarch Britain to reign during the Second World War. The course of history changed when his younger brother, Albert, who reigned as George VI, replaced him, eventually succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. They were respected figures who served their countries well.
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